Eating the wind!

We are very friendly people (most of us), and very happy that our visitors are interested in our culture and traditions. We are also rather curious and we love children, so don’t be surprised if people talk to you on the street. We always ask one another how we are doing: lakar kije?, a bit like you would say: how are you? by saying where are you going? Without really waiting for the answer. Besides we frequently answer ngalih angin or ngajeng angin, which riterally means, in Indonesia “eating the wind”, just like you would say: “getting some fresh air”, and the one who asked the question is perfectly happy with that.

There are four ways of greeting someone, according to what time it is. You always begin with Selamat, then in the morning you add pagi; from 11 am to 2 pm, siang, then in the afternoon, sore, finally, in the evening malam…

There also two ways of saying goodbye! The one who is not leaving says, Selamat jalan (have a save journey), and the other one, who is leaving, answers Selamat tinggal (stay well). But you can just say: Hello and Goodbye, everybody knows that!

People will also ask you: “Dari mana?” (Where do you come from?) and “Namanya siapa? (What’s your name?).